Piecing together the 25 Man Roster

[Post Count Padder]

Are the towel jokes really that funny this many years later?

 

They just make me sad what we missed out on.

[javy knows my name]

Are the towel jokes really that funny this many years later?

 

They just make me sad what we missed out on.

 

Did you miss where the dude got flamed for making it?

[SouthSideRyan]

Are the towel jokes really that funny this many years later?

 

They just make me sad what we missed out on.

 

HOLY [expletive] [expletive]

[Guest]

Are the towel jokes really that funny this many years later?

 

They just make me sad what we missed out on.

 

You can't be [expletive] serious right now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That [expletive] was always funny as [expletive].

[PriortoTheoIhadWood]

Are their jokes about sprints or long toss too or just the towel drill?

[TruffleShuffle]

Are their jokes about sprints or long toss too or just the towel drill?

 

no their aren't

[inari]

He's not going to get that.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Six prospects cut today and sent to minor league camp.

 

Three of them were relief pitchers with varying degrees of involvement in the "who will be in the bullpen" speculation: Believeau, Gaub, Cabrera.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Six prospects cut today and sent to minor league camp.

 

Three of them were relief pitchers with varying degrees of involvement in the "who will be in the bullpen" speculation: Believeau, Gaub, Cabrera.

 

Surprised about Beliveau and Gaub. That pretty much leaves the 2nd lefty pen spot between Maine and Trever Miller.

 

It would certainly be dissapointing to let bargain bin vets like Miller, Corpas, Johnson, and DeWitt take spots from Beliveau, Dolis, Sappelt, and Cardenas in a season that will likely be focused on auditioning the younger guys for future roles.

[davell]

Marmol, Wood, Russell, Dolis, and Coleman have bullpen spots. Castillo is possible, depending on Mateo's MRI results. Leaves one spot for Shark, Wells, or Lopez. My guess is Shark is in rotation, Lopez is in pen, and Wells is traded.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Marmol, Wood, Russell, Dolis, and Coleman have bullpen spots. Castillo is possible, depending on Mateo's MRI results. Leaves one spot for Shark, Wells, or Lopez. My guess is Shark is in rotation, Lopez is in pen, and Wells is traded.

 

What about Corpas? I know Castillo had some control issues, but I'd much prefer hang on to him over Lopez, who should be nothing more than starting ptiching depth.

[Schwarber Fan]

Caridad?

[Illini Iceman]

Marmol, Wood, Russell, Dolis, and Coleman have bullpen spots. Castillo is possible, depending on Mateo's MRI results. Leaves one spot for Shark, Wells, or Lopez. My guess is Shark is in rotation, Lopez is in pen, and Wells is traded.

 

What about Corpas? I know Castillo had some control issues, but I'd much prefer hang on to him over Lopez, who should be nothing more than starting ptiching depth.

 

I don't see any reason to keep Coleman and Lopez. They both should fill pretty much the same long reliever role in the bullpen. IMO they would be better off sending one of those two to Iowa and keeping Maine as a second lefty.

[Soul]

LaHair at cleanup, there it is just sitting there flipping you off.

 

I was about to make a post that there's no way LaHair would actually be in the cleanup spot, but then I looked at the rest of the options and realized there's really no good option for any middle of the order spot.

 

That's a really horrid lineup.

At least it's kind of balanced with L-R-R-L-R-L-R-R?? That's all I got. That offense could, and probably will, really suck and struggle to hit for power.

 

Things to prevent you from committing Cubbie Seppuku in the bleachers in late July, as we drop our 10th in a row and the beer money runs dry.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Caridad?

 

Lamenting with Justin Berg and Brian Schlitter.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Chicago Cubs Active Roster

Chicago Cubs Active Roster # Pitchers B/T Ht Wt DOB

52 Lendy Castillo S-R

27 Casey Coleman L-R

Gerardo Concepcion L-L

Frankie De La Cruz R-R

46 Ryan Dempster R-R

66 Rafael Dolis R-R

22 Matt Garza R-R

28 Paul Maholm L-L

57 Scott Maine L

49 Carlos Marmol R-R

62 Marcos Mateo R-R

40 James Russell L-L

29 Jeff Samardzija R-R

32 Chris Volstad R-R

36 Randy Wells R-R

34 Kerry Wood R-R

30 Travis Wood R-L

 

# Catchers B/T Ht Wt DOB

53 Welington Castillo R-R

51 Steve Clevenger L-R

18 Geovany Soto R-R

 

# Infielders B/T Ht Wt DOB

3 Jeff Baker R-R

15 Darwin Barney R-R

13 Starlin Castro R-R

6 Bryan LaHair L-R

2 Ian Stewart L-R

 

# Outfielders B/T Ht Wt DOB

24 Marlon Byrd R-R

1 Tony Campana L-L

9 David DeJesus L-L

5 Reed Johnson R-R

17 Dave Sappelt R-R

12 Alfonso Soriano

 

So here's what we have left. The bloded are pretty much locks barring trades. I don't think that anyone expects Concepcion or De La Cruz to make it, and Mateo is likely injured. Sappelt and Castillo will likely end up in AAA to start every day, although I see Sappelts ceiling as a 4th OF, so may as well get him started now uness they're concerned about his clock.

 

Additionally, Caridad, Corpas, Miller, DeWitt, Mather, Amezaga, and Gonzalez have earned consideration off of the minor league invites. All signs point to Mathers Hoffpauir/Fox/Colvin-esque spring training will land him a roster spot. That cuts it down to 5 spots: 1 backup catcher, likely Clevenger, maybe 1 spare bat, and the rest for pitchers. With 5 OFs including Mather, an infielder will likely land the last position spot. Gonzalez has had an impressive spring, but DeWitt is younger. Both of them prety much are what they're going to be. Amezaga has the ability to play SS, which could cause him to beat out both. Personally, I'd prefer that Cardenas get the spot, but what can you do. DeWitt could have a scrap of trade value, as could Baker and Johnson. There's also the option of cutting our losses with Johnson and giving his spot to Campana or Sappelt.

 

As for the pitchers, at least one will be a lefty. There's Miller, Maine, Coleman, and T. Wood. The best choice would be to give the spot to Maine, tell Miller thanks for coming out, have Wood start at AAA and whatever they do with Coleman is fine by me. If they want him to be a long man out of the pen, more power to them. That leaves 1 or 2 more, depending on what they do with Coleman. There is Wells, who I'd like to see shopped. If we could get something close to what we got for Gorz, I'd take it. Lendy Castillo seems to have good stuff but his control seems brutal. I'd say give it to Corpas and see how he looks. So that would make it:

 

1. SP Garza

2. SP Dempster

3. SP Maholm

4. SP Volstad

5. SP Shark

6. CL Marmol

7. RP K. Wood

8. RP Russell

9. RP Dolis

10. RP Maine

11 & 12. RP Corpas/Castillo/Coleman/Wells

13. 1B LaHair

14. 2B Barney

15. SS Castro

16. 3B Stewart

17. OF Soriano

18. OF Byrd

19. OF DeJesus

20. C Soto

21. OF Mather

22. OF Johnson

23. C Clevenger

24. IF Baker

25 IF DeWitt/Gonzalez/Amezaga

 

So there they are, our 2012 Chicago Cubs. Not exactly awe inspiring, but perhaps not awful. If we could have managed to fix the glaring hole in the heart of the lineup, I'd like our chances.

[pitchcs]

Shawn Camp (RHP - Reliever) signed to a minor league deal.

[Backtobanks]

Chicago Cubs Active Roster

Chicago Cubs Active Roster # Pitchers B/T Ht Wt DOB

52 Lendy Castillo S-R

27 Casey Coleman L-R

Gerardo Concepcion L-L

Frankie De La Cruz R-R

46 Ryan Dempster R-R

66 Rafael Dolis R-R

22 Matt Garza R-R

28 Paul Maholm L-L

57 Scott Maine L

49 Carlos Marmol R-R

62 Marcos Mateo R-R

40 James Russell L-L

29 Jeff Samardzija R-R

32 Chris Volstad R-R

36 Randy Wells R-R

34 Kerry Wood R-R

30 Travis Wood R-L

 

# Catchers B/T Ht Wt DOB

53 Welington Castillo R-R

51 Steve Clevenger L-R

18 Geovany Soto R-R

 

# Infielders B/T Ht Wt DOB

3 Jeff Baker R-R

15 Darwin Barney R-R

13 Starlin Castro R-R

6 Bryan LaHair L-R

2 Ian Stewart L-R

 

# Outfielders B/T Ht Wt DOB

24 Marlon Byrd R-R

1 Tony Campana L-L

9 David DeJesus L-L

5 Reed Johnson R-R

17 Dave Sappelt R-R

12 Alfonso Soriano

 

So here's what we have left. The bloded are pretty much locks barring trades. I don't think that anyone expects Concepcion or De La Cruz to make it, and Mateo is likely injured. Sappelt and Castillo will likely end up in AAA to start every day, although I see Sappelts ceiling as a 4th OF, so may as well get him started now uness they're concerned about his clock.

 

Additionally, Caridad, Corpas, Miller, DeWitt, Mather, Amezaga, and Gonzalez have earned consideration off of the minor league invites. All signs point to Mathers Hoffpauir/Fox/Colvin-esque spring training will land him a roster spot. That cuts it down to 5 spots: 1 backup catcher, likely Clevenger, maybe 1 spare bat, and the rest for pitchers. With 5 OFs including Mather, an infielder will likely land the last position spot. Gonzalez has had an impressive spring, but DeWitt is younger. Both of them prety much are what they're going to be. Amezaga has the ability to play SS, which could cause him to beat out both. Personally, I'd prefer that Cardenas get the spot, but what can you do. DeWitt could have a scrap of trade value, as could Baker and Johnson. There's also the option of cutting our losses with Johnson and giving his spot to Campana or Sappelt.

 

As for the pitchers, at least one will be a lefty. There's Miller, Maine, Coleman, and T. Wood. The best choice would be to give the spot to Maine, tell Miller thanks for coming out, have Wood start at AAA and whatever they do with Coleman is fine by me. If they want him to be a long man out of the pen, more power to them. That leaves 1 or 2 more, depending on what they do with Coleman. There is Wells, who I'd like to see shopped. If we could get something close to what we got for Gorz, I'd take it. Lendy Castillo seems to have good stuff but his control seems brutal. I'd say give it to Corpas and see how he looks. So that would make it:

 

1. SP Garza

2. SP Dempster

3. SP Maholm

4. SP Volstad

5. SP Shark

6. CL Marmol

7. RP K. Wood

8. RP Russell

9. RP Dolis

10. RP Maine

11 & 12. RP Corpas/Castillo/Coleman/Wells

13. 1B LaHair

14. 2B Barney

15. SS Castro

16. 3B Stewart

17. OF Soriano

18. OF Byrd

19. OF DeJesus

20. C Soto

21. OF Mather

22. OF Johnson

23. C Clevenger

24. IF Baker

25 IF DeWitt/Gonzalez/Amezaga

 

So there they are, our 2012 Chicago Cubs. Not exactly awe inspiring, but perhaps not awful. If we could have managed to fix the glaring hole in the heart of the lineup, I'd like our chances.

 

There's more than one glaring hole in the heart of the lineup.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

BN indicates that the Cubs will be making "final roster decisions" after today's ST game, though they may not be announced right away.

[Old Style]

Castillo is considered a better prospect than Clevenger, right? If so, I would think Castillo goes to Iowa so he can play everyday. Plus, Clevenger adds a left handed bat to the bench.

[biittner77]

Castillo is considered a better prospect than Clevenger, right? If so, I would think Castillo goes to Iowa so he can play everyday. Plus, Clevenger adds a left handed bat to the bench.

 

It depends on how much the new regime thinks soto can play. The pevious manager seemed to want to give Soto a lot of time off. That could either be because he was an idiot or because he knew something about Soto that we don't, in which case they keep castillo up to split time with soto. If they recognize that Soto is the best option and want to play him 4/5 games they probably do go with Clevenger. If they want the back up to play more than they probably go with Castillo.

 

Clevenger's LH bat is of limited use on the bench since he's the back up catcher and they typically don't get used for PH duties.

[KingCubsFan]

Castillo is considered a better prospect than Clevenger, right? If so, I would think Castillo goes to Iowa so he can play everyday. Plus, Clevenger adds a left handed bat to the bench.

The old regime seemed to value Castillo more, but we don't really know what Epstein and Hoyer think about the two. They may see them both as nothing more than future backups.

[toonsterwu]

One advantage Clevenger has in making the roster is that he has more options than Castillo. Thus, if they feel it's close, they could start with Clevenger because the additional options offer that flexibility.

[haubrich91]

Paul Sullivan ‏ @PWSullivan

 

Wells to Iowa.

 

Paul Sullivan ‏ @PWSullivan

 

Clevenger over Castillo.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Both a little surprising to me, although Wells moreso.